Organizers of the Agent Summit, a new event geared toward the agent community, have released the event’s educational agenda. The conference, which rolls into the Las Vegas Hilton on March 8 and 9, is part of a joint venture between F&I and Showroom magazine and Agent Entrepreneur, a new e-zine dedicated to agents.

Aimed at supplementing the F&I Conference and Expo’s new agent track, which is being added this year, the Agent Summit will provide an open forum for agents to delve deeper into the issues impacting their business and the business of their dealer customers.

“I’m very excited about the agenda we’ve put together with the help of our advisory board,” said Gregory Arroyo, executive editor of F&I and Showroom magazine and chair of the Agent Summit’s advisory board. “I really expect this event to feel more like a meeting among agents, providing them with a chance to really take off the gloves and dig into the issues impacting their business. My hope is we’ll see some strategies for dealing with these issues start to take shape during this event.”

“Will this replace the agent-related topics at our F&I Conference? No. In fact, this will allow us to really beef up what we plan to offer agents in September,” added Arroyo.

Arroyo pointed to the “Captive vs. Aftermarket: Should a Captive’s F&I Product Receive Better Terms?” panel as an example of what the agent community will be able to discuss. “Obviously, this is an issue that impacts dealers and their F&I departments,” he said. “But if there is a resolution to be had regarding this issue, it’ll need to start with agents.”

The conference will open up with a keynote address from Joe Verde, who founded his training firm in 1985. He will talk about how agents can help dealers move from recovery mode to growth. Opening up the second day will be Randy Crisorio, president and CEO of United Development Systems. He will deliver a from-the-trenches view of the general agent through an interactive presentation, which will highlight the true benefits agents bring to dealers.

The event’s agenda also touts a special panel discussion with five of the top agents in the business, who will sound off on some of the biggest issues impacting the agent community. The panel will be moderated by George Angus, a trainer with Team One Research and Training.

Angus will also join an all-star team of trainers who will lead eight educational sessions during the two-day event. In addition, event organizers have secured Safe-Guard’s Luis Garcia, Reahard and Associates’ Rick McCormick, United Car Care’s John Vecchioni and United Development Systems’ Gerry Gould. Additional speakers and panelists will be announced in the weeks to come.

“Paramount to the Agent Summit’s success is providing an agenda that will directly benefit any agent who attends,” said Adam Kimber, publisher of Agent Entrepreneur magazine and co-show chair of Agent Summit. “Between the input from our agents and the advisory board, we have put together an educational program no agent will want to miss.”